Chapter Nine
“Selene… it is really you.”
The voice sliced through the murmurs around me, soft but sharp, spoken with that mix of awe and disbelief that cracked open memory like a jagged stone.
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard those words.
They were the same ones my father whispered–moons ago -the day I staggered back through Stormveil’s gates, cloak torn, limbs scraped, my heart no longer my own.”
–目
“Selene… it’s really you.”
I had barely crossed the threshold before he found me. His voice hit me first–staggering, broken, nothing like the Alpha I knew. I looked up from beneath my hood. His eyes–those same cold, calculating eyes I had grown up fearing and craving–were wide with something I hadn’t seen before.
Terror. Relief. Maybe both.
“I thought…” He stepped forward, hands trembling slightly at his sides. “You vanished. You’ve been gone for days. What happened?“}
I said nothing. My tongue was heavy with secrets. The scent of moss and cedar still clung to my skin. The forest hadn’t let me go completely–and neither had he.
Damien.
Pheld his name behind my teeth like a shield.
“You were hunting near the Shadow River,” my father continued, grasping at threads. “We thought maybe rogues had taken you. Or that you –“He cut himself off, eyes darkening.
I lifted my head. “I wasn’t lost.“}
He stared at me.
“I stayed,” I said. “Because someone needed me.“}
“Who?” he asked sharply.
But I didn’t answer at that time.
He followed me into the grand hall, his steps echoing behind mine. “Selene,” he said, now the Alpha again, voice low and commanding. “You tell me now–who were you with in those woods?”
I turned slowly. My pulse beat thunder into my throat. And still, I didn’t flinch.
“Damien.“}
Everything in him stilled.
He didn’t blink.
He didn’t breathe.
“You mean to tell me…” His voice was quiet. Too quiet. “You disappeared from this territory–abandoned your patrol–for him?“}
I didn’t regret it. Not one moment of it. Not the warmth of his body burning with fever while I bathed his wounds. Not the slow unraveling of our silences. Not the way my name sounded from his lips when the fever broke and his eyes found mine.§
“Yes,” I said. “I stayed with him. I nursed him back. I—”}
“You what?” he roared, voice shaking the walls. “You are the heir of Stormveil, and you risked yourself for a Nightfang rogue?“} “He’s not a rogue.”
“He is,” my father snarled, stepping toward me. “His pack is a ruin. Their bloodline was tainted. Their Alpha tried to take the crown by force! And now you–you bring him back like he’s some wounded pup worth saving?”
“He’s worth more than you ever gave him credit for,” I hissed.”
“You don’t even know who he is.”
“I know who he is to me.””
That stopped him.
It silenced the rage–if only for a second.”
His face changed. Hardened. “Tell me you didn’t mark him.”
The silence that followed was my answer.
He staggered back a step like I’d struck him.”
“Stars above…” he muttered, “You claimed him?“{
“I didn’t mean to,” I whispered. “It wasn’t planned. But-“W
“But you did.“%
He sank into the war chair at the end of the hall, one hand gripping the armrest like it would anchor him.
“I warned you,” he said. “I told you to stay away from Nightfang blood.”
“And I told you I would make my own choices,” I said, each word sharp with the weight of my defiance. “You raised me to be a weapon. You trained me to lead. But you never asked what I wanted. Who I wanted.“”
“And you want him?” he spat. “A man whose lineage was cursed? A man hunted by both Alphas and rogues? You’d trade your title for a ghost from a fallen pack?“>
I stood taller. “Yes.“}
That was the moment it ended.
Not the love between us–because some part of me would always ache for his approval–but the trust. The faith. The thin, fragile string that tied daughter to father.”
He rose slowly, like a storm gathering strength.”
“Then you are no longer my heir.”
The words fell like a guillotine.
“You will not bring him to these gates. You will not speak of your claim. And if you walk out of this hall with his name still in your heart… you do so without my protection.”
I didn’t cry.
Not even when he turned his back to me.
Not even when the guards watched me pass in stunned silence.
I chose my path that day.
And I’ve been walking it ever since.}
“… Selene?”
Vivienne’s voice pulled me back.
The present slammed into me with brutal force–the scent of incense, the low hum of murmurs in the palace court, Ayla’s small hand gripping my sleeve.
I blinked. The tears I hadn’t allowed then now shimmered at the corners of my eyes.>
Vivienne stepped closer, uncertainty etched in her lined face.
“Are you alright?”
I nodded stiffly, but my heart was still trapped in the memory.
The words echoed in my mind–You are no longer my heir.
But then Vivienne said something that made the world tilt again.}
“Your father…” she hesitated. “He never stopped searching.“}
I turned to her, throat dry. “What do you mean?“}
Her gaze dropped to Ayla.
After you left, he never stopped searching, he thought you had died, we all did “}
The world blurred around me.
Vivienne didn’t stop.
“Are You Back for good“??
The Forgotten Wolves
